Touched By The Son

Sunday, October 31, 2010

The not so Good Oil

I'm not comfortable with this notion that because we consume so many oil-based products to the point of becoming reliant on them, we have to grin and bear it when oil companies fuck up, or when shipping companies or other service providers fail to uphold their end of the bargain.
The point about how reliant we are on a consumable has no bearing on how many safeguards a well should have on it, on how well the well works. WELL...

I guess it's all relevant when you're used to bandits hacking your pipes traveling over land as to where you're wasting oil and everything it touches. The fact that the oil needs to be staunched in the water rather than on sand becomes academic.

Every occupation is witness to at least one cock up. These acts are as to nothing compared to billions of dollars of damage to the fragile ecology and surrounding industry reliant on the ongoing exploitation of same, in the case of the BP failure.

If I want my CD (or vinyl, hippy) then I better accept where the raw ingredient comes from. As much as we might pine for wind, hydro, or solar, to provide for our energy needs, coal and oil hold sway. They are unlikely to lose their influence until one of these greener forms of energy overtake it for usefulness.

We know, from our past use of steam and gaslight, how ready and able we are to use whatever material is at our disposal that does the job.

But nobody's arguing the influence of Big Oil. Either the rewards they get or the the rewards they give. Left and Right draw swords, or pistols at dawn, at the gates of Big Oil.
It's when Big Oil makes a Big Mistake and doesn't even have a Backup Plan for a Big Project involving Big Impact potential for when things go wrong, that we start to wonder.

Does even such a large blip on our stock market holdings deserve our continued support if they haven't factored in the welfare of all those who are dependent on them being a good corporate neighbour, if nothing else?

Saturday, October 16, 2010

Still oversees

Haven't attempted much in the way of blogging while abroad as tapping the screen of an iPad is not as fast as touch typing. Needless to say am having a wow of a time, having stayed in Brussels and Paris since the last post. We're now at my sister's house in the English countryside.

About Me

For minutiae around the globe
Us guys who must look good in robes
Debunking debacles with official probes
Elicting eyeballs chewing lobes
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